1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cassette ejector for a video cassette recorder of the upper loading type, and more precisely to a cassette holding member ejector for a small-sized video cassette recorder which is adapted to eject a cassette from the video cassette recorder utilizing the power of a loading motor instead of a solenoid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional cassette ejector for a video cassette recorder (hereinafter referred to as "VCR") typically constructed as shown in FIG. 4. More particularly, it includes a main deck 16, a solenoid 27 mounted on the bottom surface of the main deck 16 through a bracket 28, an ejection lever 29 which projects upward from the deck 16 and is pivotally connected at a middle portion thereof to an ejection bracket 28', a solenoid actuation rod 27' connected through a pin 20 to the ejection lever 29, and a lock lever 22 pivotally supported on the deck so as to be oscillated by a spring 21 and adapted to be forced by the upper end of the ejection lever 29 to release the locking of the cassette holding member and eject the cassette from the VCR.
However, such a conventional cassette ejector has the disadvantages of increased manufacturing cost and substantially increased weight, because it necessarily requires an expensive and weighty solenoid. Further, the use of such a solenoid in the cassette ejector results in the cassette ejector consuming much power. Further, the conventional cassette ejector is so constructed that when a tape cassette is loaded in the cassette holding member, a slide plate 23, as shown in FIG. 5, is moved in the rightward direction with respect to the deck to drive a pinch roller 24, so that the pinch roller 24 forcedly presses a tape against a capstan rod 25 to interpose the tape between the pinch roller 24 and the capstan rod 25. Also, the slide plate 23 is adapted to permit the right end 23' thereof to close the inner side of a through-hole 26 fromed at the deck 26 to prevent the rear end of the lock lever 22 from fitting in the through-hole 26, so that even when an ejection button is carelessly pushed in the state that a tape cassette is loaded in a VCR for reproduction or so called "play", the cassette may be prevented from being ejected from the VCR to prevent damage to a tape. However, such a structure is necessarily formed together with a mechanism for transmitting the actuation of the solenoid to the cassette ejecting construction provided above deck. Thus, the conventional cassette ejector is complicated in structure and requires many parts, resulting in substantially increased stages in the manufacturing process and the deck being rendered large in size due to the large space occupied by the parts.